


Their Mistake

by SourwolfandLittleRed



Category: NCIS
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-01
Updated: 2015-11-07
Packaged: 2018-04-29 09:03:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5122577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SourwolfandLittleRed/pseuds/SourwolfandLittleRed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vance discovers there is more to Very Special Agent Dinozzo than meets the eye.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Second Thoughts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [All Tony Dinozzo fans and those who think that Vance](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=All+Tony+Dinozzo+fans+and+those+who+think+that+Vance), [Mcgee and David are way too arrogant .](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Mcgee+and+David+are+way+too+arrogant+.).



NCIS Director Leon Vance prided himself on being able to read people. After all that was a quality essential for getting to the top. He could always get an idea of an individual's character and use it to his advantage. Until Anthony Dominic Dinozzo Jr.   
When Vance had first started as Director he had not understood what it was about Dinozzo that made him so valuable to Gibbs. In his opinion Gibbs's SFA was an overgrown frat boy who took special pleasure in making life miserable for his subordinates through endless pranks and jokes, and the movie references that he was famous for. Yet Gibbs tolerated such behavior. Gibbs the hard ass, the bastard, the one who went through agents like tissues. He would head slap Dinozzo, that much was true, but he never formally reprimanded him.   
That little fact was the only thing that had made Vance reconsider firing Dinozzo. After all there must be a reason that Dinozzo had lasted undder Gibbs for nine years.  
Gibbs was legendary amongst every branch of NCIS as well as other Alphabet Agencies. Interagency cooperation with DC was dreaded in case they had to work with the gruff ex-marine. Agents fresh out of FLETC prayed that they did not end up in DC's MCRT.  
That had changed when it spread that Gibbs had handpicked a detective from Baltimore to become a part of his team. Suddenly everyone was curious about the newest agent at the DC office and were even eager to work with Gibbs. Dinozzo had become a legend himself famous as the agent who outlasted all previous agents even Stan Burley.  
Yet when Vance began his tenure he had failed to see Dinozzo's usefulness on the MCRT and had immediately transferred him to a ship. On Gibbs' insistence he had called back agents McGee and David but had resisted bringing back their resident class clown. However after the MCRT leader had stormed out of his office yet another time he had given in. Still he made it clear to the agent in question that in his opinion there were far more qualified agents to fill this position.  
He had managed to put the agent at the back of his mind until Eli David of all people requested that Vance send Dinozzo with the team that was to be headed to Israel on a joint op.That got Vance thinking. Dinozzo had killed Rivkin, one of Eli's people but the Israeli still wanted to work with him.  
Many people wondered how the Italian managed to survive working under Gibbs for such a long time and a lot of them respected him for it. Leon Vance was determined to find out the reason.


	2. Personnel File

Vance started on his self assigned project by requesting Dinozzo's personnel file. When his secretary Cynthia delivered it to him, he was surprised to see it's thickness. The only thicker file that he had ever seen belonged to Gibbs. He started reading from the very first page which was just Dinozzo's background check.

_Name: Anthony Dominic Dinozzo Jr._

_Age: 35 years_

_Height: 6'2_

_Born: January 20' 1980_

_Parents:_

_Father: Anthony Dinozzo Sr. (Businessman)_

_Mother: Katrina Dinozzo (DECEASED - 1988)_

Vance paused in shock. Dinozzo was raised by a single parent? First he felt sympathy for the elder Dinozzo which was soon replaced with the same emotion for the younger one. He shuddered to think of what Jared and Kayla might go through if Jackie died when they were at such a young age. To lose his mother when he was only 8 years old would have been traumatizing for the man. The Director still failed to see what made Gibbs determined to hang on to Dinozzo but he was firm in the believe that no child should be made familiar with the concept of death so early in life.

Shaking himself from the darker direction of his thoughts he went back to reading.

_Education: Home schooled  till 12 years old_

_Attended and graduated from RIMA  with highest GPA and Honors_

_Attended Ohio State University on a sports scholarship_

Why would Dinozzo need a scholarship when there was a rich father to pay for everything? He would have to ask one of the team preferably the kindly M.E.

                   _Degrees in:_ _  
_

_Physical Education_

                  _Criminal Justice_

_Theater_

_Profiling_

The Director could only stare as the newest information sunk in. It was public knowledge that the SFA had a P.E degree but Criminal Justice and Theater? That left Vance dumbfounded. How the hell did he miss that? How the hell did he forget his training and took and agent at face value?  Why did he make the Italian as miserable as he could without IA breathing down his neck. As these questions entered his mind so did the painful answers. _  
_

Vance had been so focused on the idea that Agents like Mcgee were the future of the agency that he had looked down on anyone who was technologically challenged, the top two spots reserved for Gibbs and Dinozzo. Gibbs he could work with. The man would be retiring in a few years so it wasn't a big problem. However DInozzo with his pranks and movie references and old school methods would be at the agency a long time. so had become a thorn in Vance's side.

The other reason was even more selfish and unethical. He had needed a scapegoat for the disaster that was Jenny's death and Dinozzo was the most convenient. Leon had a sick feeling that Dinozzo knew exactly what he had been thinking, all the times when Dinozzo had regarded him with barely contained arrogance and distrust. At first he had foolishly thought that the man was resentful of his transfer to Agent Afloat but now after reading his personnel file he was seriously reconsidering a lot of his past opinions and decisions.

After he continued his reading, Vance was given yet another reality check when he reached the part where Dinozzo's job offers were recorded. Apparently the man received several offers each year from various agencies. Jenny had offered him a position at Rota, Spain. Fornell constantly hounded Dinozzo hoping to lure him to the FBI. Tom Morrow offered Dinozzo a senior position in Homeland. To top it all of Dinozzo had been offered a position in the CIA.

Vance knew he had a lot of bridges to mend with Dinozzo but before that he had someone that he needed to talk to. 

 


	3. Talking to Ducky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is incomplete. My computer is being an ass so I posted as much as I could type on a small phone. Which is not a lot .so please be patient and don't give up on this story. Thnx.

Vance knew that he could not confront agent Dinozzo in order to get answers. The man was an expert in deflecting and would aggravate him even more instead of giving out personal information. So the next best option was to talk to someone who knew him well. The three who fell into this category were Gibbs, Dr.Mallard, and Ms.Scuito.  
Now Vance may want to sate his curiosity but he wasn't that desperate as to endure Gibbs' bastard persona, longer than was absolutely necessary. Ms.Scuito wouldn't be as blatantly rude as Gibbs but she would be fiercely protective of Dinozzo. It was no secret at the agency that the Goth and the Frat Boy may as well be siblings the way they acted.  
So the medical examiner won hands down. He had Cynthia send a message to the doctor to meet him before he went home.  
When Dr.Mallard arrived he had a politely curious expression, as was typical for him.Vance offered the Scot a drink of his native whiskey before getting to the point." Doctor, you've known Agent Dinozzo as long as he's worked here." The aged M.E nodded silently but his eyes were sharp."I've been looking into his file and". He was interrupted by the other man before he could complete his sentence. "Let me guess Director. You have questions about young Anthony regarding some matters that puzzle you greatly. Just like they puzzle everyone else who wonders how our young Italian managed to keep his job under Gibbs for all these years.Including I'm sad to say, Timothy and Officer David who the boy used to consider family."  
At Vance's blank look Ducky shook his head sadly. ''Director, Agents McGee and David have not respected Anthony for quite a long time now. It started when Jethro 'retired'. Everyone expected the boy to do things the way Jethro did. However when he did he was rebuked for trying to act like someone he was not. Timothy and Officer David began to show hesitance in following orders saying that Anthony would never be Gibbs and he was just temporary team leader. Anthony actually had to ask assistance from other teams for backup because he couldn't trust his team mates to have his six.''  
Vance did not like what he was hearing. He really didn't want to believe that he could be wrong about not just one but almost a whole team of agents. Unfortunately that wasn't the case and the best thing he could do was to make sure that he made things right. Which brought him back to the original reason for inviting Dr.Mallard to his office. ''As I told you before, I was reading Dinozzo's file and I was I'm afraid to admit quite confused.'' ''Tell you what good Director. Let me tell you some things about young Anthony and if that still doesn't answer your questions we'll talk to Jethro.'' Ducky ignored the grimace on Vance's face and continued. '' As you know Anthony was the only son of his parents. His mother died when he was eight years old. From what I've been able to gather she was the only one who showed even the slightest affection for the dear boy. His father married her for her money and for an heir. After she died he was too busy marrying rich heiresses to really bother with his son. Instead Tony was left in the care of nannies and servants. When he was twelve Senior married a woman ten years his junior who had no desire for a step child and convinced him to send Anthony away. And for the first time since he was born his father did something that was good for him. He sent him to Rhode Island Military Academy. Our young Italian thrived at this school. For the first time he had a structured routine, a clear idea of what was expected of him and he delivered. He worked hard and got excellent grades. He also developed an interest in sports which led him to get a full scholarship to OSU. As you know Anthony was a Buckeye. He was actually going to play professionally but an injury to his leg ended that dream. So instead he ended up in law enforcement. And you know the rest.'' Vance was silent for a moment, taking in the information that the Scot had imparted. ''What about his various degrees?'' The Director was rewarded with a proud smile,one he was sure was for the man's surrogate grandson. ''You see Director, Anthony likes people to under estimate him. It helps him assess people and get a read on them without them getting a read on him. It also helps him obtain information that would otherwise not be easily gotten. You see behind the frat boy persona is a genius with an incredible IQ. This intelligence is what enabled him to get more than one degree at the same time. When he was getting his Physical Education degree he minored in Theatre. Later when he started working in Peoria he continued his studies and worked for his major in Criminal Justice. Last year Director Sheppard sent him to assist the BAU in a complex case and they recommended that he take a profiling course. Anthony liked the course so much that he decided to go back to school. It took a lot of work but instead of the mandatory three years he earned enough credit to graduate early.''


End file.
